Hamartia

According to Aristotle, one must have a number of characteristics in order to identify as a tragic hero. These characteristics include having a noble stature, a tragic flaw, undeserved misfortune, a moment of self-discovery, and a similarity to the reader. In the book “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby contains most of these characteristics and so is portrayed as a Tragic Hero. Gatsby was truly a noble character. What really gave him this title was his determination in life.…

The Tragic Hero: Fated by Their Flaws In many pieces of literature throughout history the theme of tragedy has played a large role. One of the most well known types of tragedy is the downfall of a specific character in written works, known as the tragic hero. Herman Melville's Moby Dick and Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrate prime cases of the tragic heroes, how one dangerous flaw can over take a person leading to their ultimate demise and what that shows us about fate and free will. A…

As defined by Aristotle, hamartia is the tragic flaw that leads to a character’s downfall. Oedipus, the tragic hero of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, is a man whose hamartia is that he is not self-aware; he believes that he is the birth son of Polybus and Merope. Then, as the king of Thebes, he wants to bring King Laius’ murderer to justice without realizing he is searching for himself. Lastly, after answering the Sphinx's riddle and saving the citizens of Thebes, he marries the Theban queen, Jocasta,…

King Lear is a story of the consequences caused by the foolish decisions of the main character. His other flaw, arrogance, contributes to his ignorance. He is carelessness in making decisions causes him to make ignorant choices. The king believes only what appeals to him and nothing less. When his daughter tells him how she feels, he quickly begins to make choices that are full of mistakes. Kent states, Reserve thy state,/And in thy best consideration check/This hideous rashness. Answer my…

What do you think makes a tragic hero? According to “an old dead Greek dude”, otherwise known as Aristotle, the very same who created the guidelines of what would qualify as “a good body of text”, a tragic hero is noble or wise, has a fatal flaw, a reversal of fortune, a realization that their fatal flaw is what caused their misfortune, and a greater fate than they deserved. I personally completely agree with Aristotle’s ideas of a tragic hero. They need to be noble or wise so the audience can…

The combination of fate and external forces sometimes requires people to exercise good judgement—the impact of a bad decision can be multiplied. That is the situation John Proctor found himself in and unfortunately for him, he exercised poor judgement and became the classic “tragic hero.” In fact, as a result he ultimately dies for a crime he did not commit. Another necessary part of the tragic hero is that he or she has a complete reversal of fortune brought by the hero's own flaw. Proctor's…

My analysis for this essay is of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and how Oedipus’ main character flaw is responsible for the tragedy of the story. While there are many elements that had to come together for the tragedy to unfold, it was ultimately Oedipus’ tendency to react quickly without putting much thought into his actions and his temper that ultimately result in his tragic fate. From the start, Oedipus shows his tendency to react quickly, even if he had good intentions. He begs Creon to tell…

According to Aristotle, tragic heroes must acquire some qualities, including a superior stature, tragic flaws, and the ability to evoke in the audience a sense of sympathy. Oedipus in the Greek play Oedipus the King by Sophocles is described as eminent, confident, and caring. Romeo in the play The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is presented as handsome, sensitive and passionate. The two characters, although created in two ages that have a gap of two thousand years, satisfy…

Tragedy is the fall of someone who is great, or at least is great in the eye of the observer. The key to a tragedy is not that outside forces are the ones that cause the fall, but that the fall is triggered by a flaw in the protagonist. This flaw can be minor or major, but must be significant enough to cause the terrible outcome of a fall from grace. I will be comparing two plays written centuries apart and relate why they both meet the criteria of being a tragedy, as well as how they differ and…

John Proctor is the tragic hero in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The downfall of John in the play is due to a human flaw, which largely qualifies him as a tragic hero. John is a respectable farmer, who has a high social status .The tragic flaw was the physical attraction he had towards Abigail Williams, yet he had a wife. His wife realizes his husband’s acts of adultery and gets jealous. Proctor knows that he has the option to confess the deed. However, his pride comes in his way and he is…